


Fine Feathers

by Salamandriod



Series: Daemon AU [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Family Issues, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-06
Packaged: 2018-07-21 22:20:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7407376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salamandriod/pseuds/Salamandriod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fine feathers makes fine birds, if Lord Moran would have his way. Sebastian doesn't agree.</p>
<p>Can be read as a stand alone, but part one adds background.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fine Feathers

“I still don’t see why I need to come along.”  
  
Sebastian saw Jim roll his eyes in the reflection of the bathroom mirror. He finished tying his tie and straightening it in silence before turning to level him with a flat glare. “We’ve gone over this before, despite this being a heavily guarded event, I still prefer to have my own guards around,” he replied. “And you _are_ my bodyguard. It’s what I hired you for.”

 

“I know that, but I don’t see why you want me to wear that damn suit. You know I can’t move as easily in it and I know that you hate when it gets covered in blood,” Sebastian retorted.

 

“I’m well aware, but I do have appearances to keep up. I can’t let you be seen near me wearing jeans and a tee shirt, don’t be ridiculous.”

 

Sebastian sighed in exasperation, and Caelina fluttered up to shoulder from her place on the counter to help calm him. “So let me steal a guard’s uniform, or something, I don’t need to be mingling with all the high class idiots that’ll be there. I already did enough of that.”

 

Jim was still for a moment, regarding Sebastian with a look that would make lesser men run in fear for their lives. He then turned his head fractionally to look out the doorway to the suit he’d laid out neatly on the bed for Sebastian before turning back to him. “You’ll wear the suit and mingle with whomever I say. If you play nice, I might reward you. After all, you do clean up quite nicely, no matter how much you despise wearing suits,” he stated. He turned back to the mirror to put the finishing touches on his appearance, making sure no hair was misplaced and no wrinkle to be found in his clothes. A clear dismissal.

 

Not needing to be told twice, Sebastian turned and stepped towards the bed, once again glaring at the suit as though he could set it aflame. “It’ll only be for a few hours,” Caelina said softly, trying to reassure him. “And you know Jim’ll tear it off of you when we get back.”

 

Sebastian sorted at that, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He lifted a hand to scratch her head gently in thanks, then let her hop down his arm onto the bed so he could change. He tugged off his shirt and trousers, perfectly aware that Aurea was not so subtly watching him from where she was on the pillow, and while he couldn’t see him, he was certain Jim was enjoying the view as well.

 

When he was done changing he rolled his shoulders a few times, trying to get used to the thick fabric that prevented Caelina’s talons from ruining the suit. Jim had been furious the first time he’d seen Sebastian’s suits, first with how poor his style was and second with the claw marks along his sleeves and shoulders. Since then he’d had suits custom made for him that wouldn’t tear under the slightest pressure of Caelina’s claws.

 

Once he was satisfied with how it sat on his shoulders, Sebastian offered his arm to his daemon, and she happily returned to her perch on his shoulder. She immediately started trying to preen his hair earning a quiet chuckle from Aurea.  

 

“Jim will just comb it out for him regardless, you know,” she said, finally standing up. She stretched out, flicking her tail out behind her before trotting over to the edge of the bed and sitting back down to look up at them.

 

Caelina stopped her preening to look down at the fox. “Doesn’t mean I can’t try to make him look presentable. Someone had to do it before you came around,” she retorted. Nevertheless, she didn’t keep messing with Sebastian’s hair, instead choosing to preen a few of her feathers.

 

“You both know I _can_ get ready on my own, yeah?” Sebastian sighed. He stepped over to the dresser to grab his comb to do his hair. “Actually, that goes for all three of you,” he added quickly turning to throw a sharp glare at Jim, who just smiled sweetly in return.

 

“We know you can, but that doesn’t mean you won’t complain while doing it. It’s just easier to get it over with as quickly as possible,” he heard Aurea say from the bed. He pouted and opened his mouth to say something, only to quickly realize that would prove her point and shut himself up. He finished combing out his hair with a pout tugging his mouth downwards. He was focused so much on not complaining that he didn’t hear Jim sneak up beside him, not until he swiped the comb out of his hand. With a few last quick strokes, Jim managed to make his hair settle nicely.

 

Jim stepped back to look Sebastian up and down to make sure that everything was in place and to enjoy the sight. Once he’d had his fill and decided that he passed, he stepped back in and pressed a gentle kiss to his jaw. “Time to go, darling,” he said. With that, he turned on his heel and sauntered out. Aurea leapt off the bed and trotted after Jim, making sure to press herself against Sebastian’s leg before speeding off.

 

Sebastian followed, not bothering to wipe off the orange fur that clung to his pant leg.

 

 

The gala, to Sebastian’s surprise, was almost enjoyable, at least to begin with. The people still were insufferable, but the rich had always been so to him, even when he was young. Fortunately he hadn’t run into anyone that would have recognized him from when he was his father’s prop. Most just accepted that he was Jim’s plus one, allowing him to let Jim answer any questions he didn’t want to answer himself. Caelina, as large and beautiful as she was, drew some attention that they couldn’t avoid of course, but they’d long ago gotten used to that. It helped that whenever Aurea noticed Caelina getting too restless she’d step in, drawing away most of the attention by doing something cute. The food was delicious too, though that was to be expected.

 

Of course, with such a large event, Sebastian should have known that something would go wrong eventually.

 

Caelina heard it before he did. Most of the attendee’s daemons were domestic things, dogs and cats and such, though quite a few had other things; Sebastian had noticed a two women with a weasel and a lynx chatting, and a man with a wolf wandering around. A few others had birds as well, though none quite as remarkable as Caelina.

 

None of the daemons he’d seen so far that night would make quiet slapping noises with their feet as they walked across the floor, nor would any of them have a laugh tinged with something that almost sounded like a grunt.

 

The moment Caelina realized, she stood up straighter and puffed her chest out. Her talons dug into the fabric of Sebastian’s suit, managing to pierce small holes into it despite the fabric. It was only then that Sebastian stopped listening to the conversation Jim was having with an older man with a hairless cat daemon. With the way that Caelina was acting, he knew there could only be one reason, but he still held onto the hope that it wasn’t true. He could hear someone and their daemon laughing not even halfway across the room, and the closer he listened the more he could feel those hopes slipping away.

 

Aurea seemed to notice their reaction and brought it to Jim’s attention, just so he could end his conversation politely. Jim was hesitant to reach out and touch Sebastian, unsure just how he might react and not wanting to cause a scene. Aurea knew just what to do, though, yipping softly just to draw Caelina’s attention, who then brought Sebastian back to reality.

 

Immediately Sebastian grabbed Jim’s arm, pulling him in close to whisper in his ear. “We need to go. Now. I knew this was a fucking terrible idea.”

 

“We can’t leave just yet, Sebastian. There’s still people I need to talk with, and I can’t be caught leaving early. Appearances, I told you,” he retorted through gritted teeth.

 

Sebastian took a deep breath to try to keep his temper in check, though it was getting harder as he could hear a quiet slapping of feet getting closer to them. “Fuck _appearances_ , we need to go. I need to go.”

 

“Not until you tell me what could be so much more important than expanding the business.”

 

“You don’t-“

 

“I thought you had said you would never be caught dead at a gala again, Sebastian,” said a voice behind them.

 

Immediately Sebastian snapped straight up and turned to face his father, trying to keep his face impassive despite the anger and fear swirling within him.

 

Jim turned to inspect Lord Moran, quickly gleaning what information he could from his interaction with Sebastian and what little he knew of the other’s youth. Lord Moran did the same, looking both Jim and Sebastian up and down to draw his own conclusions.

 

He turned to Jim, looking down on him. “Good to know that someone can convince him to be a part of the upper class as he should be. You would be?” he asked, offering his hand.

 

“His employer, James Nolan,” Jim replied cordially, taking the other’s hand. “You must be his father, then, yes? I can see the family resemblance.”

 

“Lord Augustus Moran, yes. I’m afraid the resemblance is only skin deep, unfortunately,” he replied, glancing over at Sebastian and letting his gaze linger on Caelina specifically. He was standing rigidly, though quivering just slightly as he tried to contain his rage. His fists were curled at his side and his knuckles white from the effort. Caelina wasn’t much better, the feathers on her shoulders half raised and ready to leap off of Sebastian’s shoulder.

 

Before Jim could even open his mouth to respond, a grunting laugh brought both of their attentions to Lord Moran’s daemon. “I don’t think our little boy is just his employee, Augustus,” the swan said, her eyes twinkling in glee. She opened a wing to gesture towards Sebastian’s pant leg to point out the bright red hairs clinging to it. “He let that dirty fox _touch_ him.”

 

“Is that so, Aelia?” Augustus mused, looking down to where she pointed. He let his gaze shift over to the Jim and his fox, enjoying their shocked expressions. He gave an amused huff, then turned to look at Sebastian with that same fear inducing look that Jim had given him earlier while they were getting ready. Only this time Sebastian could feel that fear, but he was rooted to the ground and unable to run. “Just more proof of how far you’ve fallen, Sebastian. If you decide you want to make things right, you know how to contact me. And Mr Nolan,” he paused to look at Jim, “Good luck with him.” With that, he turned and started off, pleased with himself.

 

Aurea had the sense of mind to snap out of her shock, though it was still a moment too late. She lunged towards the swan with her teeth aimed at her throat. Aelia wasn’t caught off guard, though, and she gracefully batted the fox away with a swing of her wings. She paused for a moment to honk smugly at them before fluttering off to rejoin Augustus in the crowd.

 

Aurea limped back to Jim dejectedly, and he crouched down to scratch her behind an ear and lift her up. With his father out of sight Sebastian seemed to be slowly unwinding, but he knew that it would only get better if they left. He gently grabbed Sebastian’s elbow to draw his attention, then nodded once. “We’re going,” he ordered before leading the way. Sebastian followed without argue.

 

 

“You could have told me just how much of an arse your father is,” Jim grunted once they were home. Sex was the farthest thing from their minds at the moment, so they simply went to change once they returned. Jim tried to keep some sense of normality by hanging his suit up as he normally did while Sebastian just threw his clothes on the bed in an effort to get out of the damn thing as fast as possible. Aurea stayed close to Jim since she was still aching from being hit, but Caelina had flown up to the top of the bookshelf, where she went when she didn’t want to be disturbed.

 

“I thought you could have figured that out since I hated even having to talk about him. He’s a bastard and I hate everything about him. We’re nothing alike. There’s not much more to say, really,” Sebastian snapped. He paused for a moment to glance at his shoulder, only just noticing the red patches of dried blood from where Caelina’s talons had pierced through. He went to the bathroom to clean the wounds up, hoping that he could escape the conversation by doing so.

 

Unfortunately Jim was horribly insistent, following him into the bathroom once he’d finished changing. “Still, some warning should have been given so I’d be prepared to be insulted to my face,” he snapped. “And you’re more alike than you think. You were like a slightly less full of yourself version of him when I first started keeping tabs on you, though I’ve certainly trained you out of that. You seemed to fit in perfectly at the gala before he arrived, and I know I didn’t teach you that. Not to mention your daemons,” he continued, glancing over his shoulder to Caelina on the bookshelf. “Birds of a feather, and all.”

 

That made Sebastian snap up and cross over to Jim, grabbing him roughly by his shoulders so he couldn’t escape. “Just because I and every other Moran has a bird daemon doesn’t mean we’re _anything_ alike. There’s hundreds of reasons Caelina settled the way she did, and I’ve come to accept those. A god damned eagle certainly wasn’t either of our first choices as to what she would be and I’ll always hate how my father pointed her out so _smugly_ when she first settled. I’ve already been driven to my limits from him, I don’t need you doing the same shit and making me wish I hadn’t survived past the army. Criticize us for anything you like, but don’t you _dare_ compare her to that fucking swan that my father has, got it?” he snapped. Jim’s expression was impassive as always when he was being threatened, but Sebastian could see thoughts flickering behind Jim’s eyes, and none of them were about how to cut his throat out for his actions.

 

After a moment Jim nodded and Sebastian released him. He returned to the sink to finish cleaning his wounds, though he did grab some ointment and tossed it at Jim. “That should help Aurea. I know getting smacked by a swan hurts. I can look her over for any other injuries later if she needs it,” he said flatly.

 

Jim looked down at the ointment in his hands, then back up at Sebastian to murmur a thanks. He returned to the bedroom, getting Aurea to sit still beside him so he could rub the ointment in. It didn’t take long to make sure that she was alright, though they were both distracted by occasionally looking up at Caelina in her nest. Fortunately the swan’s wing hadn’t hit her very hard, so they doubted that anything was seriously hurt and the ointment seemed to do wonders for the aches.

 

When they were done Jim quietly went to the kitchen to grab a few treats, giving one to Aurea right away to help cheer her up. He returned to the bedroom and glanced into the bathroom to make sure that Sebastian was still distracted, then grabbed a box so he could reach a bit higher. He stood on it and reached out to offer the other treat to Caelina, knowing she’d smell it even if she had her head stuck in her nest.

 

Slowly but surely she poked her head out and glared at Jim, making no move to take the treat. Jim rolled his eyes and gave a small exasperated sigh. “Look. I’m sorry. I was angry and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you,” he said.

 

Caelina looked at him for a moment before something seemed to change in her expression, the pain in her eyes seeming to turn into a twinkle of amusement. She leaned forward and snatched the treat out of Jim’s grasp and gulped it down. “Just don’t let it happen again,” she said.

 

“I won’t,” Jim assured as he stepped down from the box. Once he had his feet firmly on the floor Caelina fluttered down to land on his shoulder, careful not to dig her talons into his flesh. Jim stilled for a moment, then relaxed as he became certain she wasn’t going to hurt him. “Thank you for taking care of him, too,” he added softly, lifting a hand to pet her head.

 

“Someone had to do it before you came around,” she replied happily.

**Author's Note:**

> Aelia - feminine varient of Aelius, meaning sun. I figure Lord Moran and his daemon would want to be the center of things. I wanted Lord Moran's daemon to have that noble aspect to it while still being quite dangerous, and Mute Swans fit the bill for me. 
> 
> This was actually the first idea for a daemon fic I had, so I'm pleased that I finally got around to writing it. I kind of want to write more in this universe, but I'm not entirely sure just what I'd write.


End file.
